Homecoming

It's been a loooong couple of days, but we are so thrilled to have Lainey finally HOME!

I can't even get my days straight at this point because of the time change, but we left Hong Kong early Friday morning (12 hours ahead of our time here), and got home at around 7:30pm in Cincinnati. We traveled all in all for about 24 hours. The 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Cincinnati was tough (tears were shed by both Lainey and momma), but we survived. The hardest part was that BJ and I weren't able to be seated together, and since Lainey doesn't like to be out of my sight when she's tired, I had her almost the entire flight. But our saving grace... the airline arranged it so the only empty seat on the plane was next to me, so I had a place to put our things, put Lainey, and let Lainey lay down when she slept. We didn't opt for this originally because the extra seat would have cost us around $800, but we ended up with the seat anyway, and it was HUGE! And Lainey did really well considering. That's a REALLY long time to be stuck on a plane, especially when you are an active toddler lacking sleep!

We made it to Chicago, then through immigration (after waiting 35 minutes for the ONLY immigration officer to come back from lunch break... grrr), and then onto our flight home to Cincinnati. It was so awesome to have some family and friends waiting to greet Lainey after our long trip, and especially to see our baby boys! We missed them SO SO much in the 2 1/2 weeks we've been gone, and it's so awesome to have our family back together.



We are so proud of Canaan, he has been such a sweetheart to our baby girl, and it's so apparent that he gets it, as much as any four year old could.

"This is such a good day! I love this day!" (said over and over)

"I'm so happy! Before Lainey didn't have a family, but now she DOES have a family!"

While changing Lainey into her pajamas, she cried, and Canaan came close to her face, pet her head and said, "It's okay Lainey, it won't hurt. I love you. Woe Eye Nee. Woe shin yee guhguh." (I love you. I am your brother.) Then, "Lainey I like your jammies. Look, they have pockets!".

"Before we were a FOUR family, but now our family has FIVE people in it!"

"I really like my sister. She's good!"

Being home now, with my family sleeping (I should be too, but you know... jet lag) soundly all together in the same house... it feels like all is right with the world.

We are immeasurably blessed!

US Consulate Appointment

This morning we had Lainey's visa appointment at the United States Consulate here in Guangzhou. We don't have any photos, since we were only allowed to bring our passports, a diaper and a couple of snacks for Lainey. But here's our cutie in her red, white, and blue! :)

She's pretty excited to become a US citizen in just two days! It becomes official once we touch down in Chicago on Friday! :)

Progress & Lainey's Silk Dress!

In the orphanage, Lainey had no say in her schedule, the amount of food she ate, etc. This is how things have been for her her entire life. Part of the process now is to teach her that she can have an opinion. We are already making big strides, and I'm so happy that she'll tell us when she's full or doesn't want to eat something (by shaking her head no).

But she still hasn't let me know when she's awake. We're watching her pretty closely, so we can see as she wakes up... her eyes open, but she just lays there. Both of my boys, when they woke up and saw their momma or daddy, they would jump up and asked to be picked up. But Lainey, she hasn't learned yet that this is an option. So she just lays there, barely moving, and waits to be picked up. It breaks my heart. :(  I can't wait for the day when she knows I'm coming to get her and she jumps up to be picked up out of her crib.

Everything is so new to her. Her whole world thus far has been life in the orphanage. But now, she's seen so much and had so much one-on-one attention that it's changing her spirit. She's been through so much, but she's also so resilient, like so many of the other children we've seen find families after a tough start. 

We're so impressed with her and how smart she is! She's picked up a few things from us in just a few days. Things like waving bye bye (when we say goodbye in Mandarin), blowing kisses, signing 'more', shutting drawers slowly with her palms so she doesn't smash her fingers, and coloring (and she wants to hold the crayon just right... like a pencil).

She is blossoming before our eyes! We're learning that she's so funny and silly! She LOVES to be chased by Daddy! She giggles and it melts our hearts!!

We hear over and over from the Chinese people how beautiful she is, how BIG she is, and what beautiful big eyes she has. Today, our taxi driver told us, "If she was my daughter, I would never abandon her. She so beautiful." Oh my heart. So many sweet people have been so encouraging to us here and of course, we agree! She's so beautiful!

Guangzhou Zoo & Safari Park

Yesterday we were able to go to the Guangzhou Zoo and Safari park, which was about an hour drive from our hotel. The zoo is the largest in all of ASIA! It was huge and SO amazing! They have about half of the world's population of white tigers there, and SO many giraffe, baby tigers, koalas, and pandas. We had an awesome time, and Lainey did so great despite the long and very hot day. She even got to feed the giraffes with Daddy and elephants with Mommy!

Shamian Island

We just got back from visiting Shamian Island here in Guangzhou, where the White Swan hotel is. This is the classic hotel where most families in the past have stayed while adopting. It has been under renovation for three years, so it is not being used now. We were able to take a taxi (20 yuan, or a little over $3) to the island, with no trouble at all. Holt gave us a paper to hand the taxi driver to tell him where to take us, and it also says what hotel to take us to on the way home.

The island was so much fun to tour around, and the highlight was visiting a VERY packed, standing room only church. Got to say, I was in tears as we came down the street and heard familiar worship music flooding out of the church and into the street (Christians can worship here a little more freely now -- at least in this province). It was so beautiful.



We also were able to get our Lainey's must-have photo (an adoption tradition) with the bronze statues. She was a little tired and not quite sure what to think! :)

First Bath

So far, we've been very very gradual with Lainey with regards to her clothes, because it's been (as expected) a sensitive issue for her as she grows to trust us. When we first got her, she was wearing socks, tights, a skirt, a corduroy dress, a shirt, and a coat. This is pretty typical for babies to be very bundled up here, even when it's warm out, like it is now. The clothes she was wearing on that day, were for the last tie of familiarity. So when it was time (after the first day was done and it was time for jammies), we started with one sock off. She cried. Then later, another sock. She cried. And so like that, very very slowly we worked on undressing her from all of the layers.

She has gotten pretty much over all that now that we've had her for 5 days - she sometimes protests, but in general will now let us change her clothes. But until last night, bathtime was also a struggle. So far we have just sponge bathed her very fast (under a minute) because she would cry the whole time.

Last night, we undressed her and she was still happy, so we filled the sink and BJ put some toys in it. We let her sit with her feet in the warm water, and soon she was itching to get all of the way in.

She loved it! Every little breakthrough is so awesome! It's so amazing to see how quickly she's adjusting to us and all of the major changes in her life.

Video!

The internet is a lot better here in Guangzhou, so here's a quick little video of our baby girl! She's a cutie!!

Hangzhou Airport & Medicals

Yesterday afternoon, we headed out to the airport to leave Lainey's birth city (very bittersweet), and catch our 4pm flight to Guangzhou, where the American consulate is. In Hangzhou, we finalized our adoption, and in Guangzhou we will process the necessary paperwork for her to come to the United States with us and land in Chicago as a U.S. citizen.

Our 4pm flight, we found out when we arrived, was delayed due to bad weather, with no set time on when it might be rescheduled. So we settled in with our new friends, the McDonalds (who adopted an adorable little boy from our same province), and we waited. And waited. And waited. After 8 hours in the airport, things were getting pretty heated at our gate, as other flights to Guangzhou were leaving but ours was not. In total, we waited 9 hours in the Hangzhou airport before we were able to leave. We arrived in Guangzhou around 4am, made it to our hotel around 4:45am, and were in bed around 5am. We had a quick sleep (thankfully Lainey had slept a good while in the airport, but not at all on the flight, so our poor girl has been through a lot in the last 24 hours) of 2 1/2 hours before we had to get up and head out for our medical appointment.

The medical appointment is a requirement for all children adopted into the United States to be sure they do not have any infectious diseases. We have 18 in our adoption travel group (amazing!!), and while the wait was a long one to be seen at the three medical stations, we were happy to meet everyone and their new children. There are so many amazing people here with hearts for children and adoption. After a couple of hours, we were all done, and able to leave for the hotel and take a rest. It's been a LONG 24 hours!

Girly Girl!

I think we have a girly girl! :) What she loves most (besides yogurt melts and cheerios), are putting on and off her bracelets, making sure her sweater is buttoned or unbuttoned (she insists!), and that her hair bow is on. :) She also LOVES her shoes. We had to buy her a pair here because we were off on guessing her size, and she loves them. (We had no idea they lit up until yesterday when she walked for us for the first time!)

She's definitely in an American 18 months size and size 6 toddler shoe, even though she is only 16 months. She is a big baby by Chinese standards! :) We love every inch of her and are so happy she's grown so well in the care of her loving orphanage nannies.

Hangzhou SWI (Orphanage) Visit

Sorry for the lack of photos - this post is mainly about Lainey's orphanage, and we were asked to not share photos of the orphanage online, with exception of the office lobby where our tour first began.

This morning, our last day here in Lainey's birth city of Hangzhou, we were eating breakfast when Lainey started to squirm in such a way that I knew that for the first time she was asking to get out of my lap and onto the ground. I put her down and let her stand on her own for a bit, and was so thrilled to see her looking for a little independence. Every day she is getting more and more comfortable with us and we are getting to see more and more of her adorable little personality. :) Back upstairs in our room, we used goldfish crackers to entice her into walking for us. She has been able to walk for a couple of months, but she has had absolutely no interest in walking or crawling with us so far. It was so fun to have her walk to us (she is still very wobbly), and soon she was exploring the room with confidence.

(Later this afternoon, I was able to teach her how to use the sign for 'more' in about 15 minutes. Baby girl loves her food! :) She's such a smart baby! :)  And watching her do the sign for 'more' is pretty stinkin' adorable!)

At 9am, met down in the lobby to first go to the notary's office, and then to the orphanage to see where our baby girl has been living since she was just days old. Our guide from Holt told us, "Your baby very lucky. Most babies not live in a place like this". And she was very right. We know that so so many babies here live in very poor conditions, or in a large baby-to-child ratio (in some cases 40 babies to one caregiver). But our baby girls has been in one of the nicer orphanages in China, and has been so well cared for while she's waited for a family. The compound of the orphanage was broken into many buildings, one for the younger babies like Lainey, one for the older children, one for the children with more severe special needs, etc. Because she stayed in the same building from day one, her nannies were close to her and she knew them well.

After arriving, we were given a lifebook for Lainey, a record of Lainey's life that had been kept by the orphanage. Because of this, we now know so much more about our baby girl - when she got her first tooth, the month she started to crawl, etc. It is so amazing to be able to record these milestones for her, as most orphaned children would never have anything like this.

As we finished looking through Lainey's lifebook, I told the orphanage staff worker, "sher sher" (thank you in Chinese), and Lainey clearly said the words, "sher sher" repeating me. Everyone oohed and laughed and clapped for her. :)  She has been babbling a lot for us, but we really didn't know if she was talking baby talk or if she knew a bit of Chinese that we just didn't understand! :) We asked and were told that until that 'sher sher', she had just said 'mama' and 'yee' (aunt).

We started our tour and visited Laney's baby room first. There were thirty cribs, and we were told that there about twenty babies there currently, and 400 children total in the orphanage. We were able to see the crib where Lainey slept every naptime, and every night for the last 16 months. There was one little boy in his crib with a repaired cleft lip. I'm not sure why he was there when all the other babies were out of their cribs, but he greeted us with a sweet sweet smile and we waved "Ni How bow bow" (hello baby). One of Lainey's nannies was there (we learned that the children call the nannies 'Mama'), and another also came in to kiss Lainey and tell her goodbye. It was so evident how much they cared for her and it was so sweet to see them be so happy for her to have a family.

We toured a bit more, visiting the playground and the preschool, and BJ found a beautiful flower from the grounds to press and save for Lainey. As we were heading back to the main office building, we saw a line of adorable preschool children walking to their classroom. They were so excited to see us and waved excitedly from their line shouting out, 'hello!" in English.

We learned that if we hadn't been matched with her and if our post-match process hadn't moved as quickly as it did, she would have been placed in foster care for a couple of months until we could get there for her. I'm so thankful that this didn't happen. Even though foster care is usually the best case, it would have been so tough on Lainey to be in the orphanage, then with a foster family, and then back to the orphanage (which is the standard practice to do once a family gets travel approval), then to us. That would have added two more transitions, two more difficult separations for her, and would have likely made it much more difficult for us to bond with her now.

Skyping her Guh Guhs :)

West Lake

The beautiful West Lake, a popular place for tourists in China, is just a couple of blocks away from our hotel. It was so fun walking around today. Especially now that we have Lainey, we feel a little like celebrates. It's crazy how many people stare at us, as for our picture with them, and sneak photos of us. A LOT of people pointing at us, and point us out to our friends, but we couldn't understand what they were saying about us, so we're not quite sure what they think! :) We're wondering how much people are exposed to adoption here. We've had a couple of people stop and ask us, and when we say we are her "mama" and "baba" they get very confused, and we're pretty sure they are saying, "but she's Chinese!".

Hangzhou Botanical Gardens

Today we visited the beautiful Bamboo Garden park here in Hangzhou. Lainey's birth city is so beautiful, and the bamboo garden was by far the most beautiful park I have ever been to. It was amazing to walk through, and we only saw a small part.

The days are officially becoming a blur! It's crazy now to think that we have only had Lainey for 2 days. She is definitely her happiest and most comfortable when we are in our hotel room. She is getting so much more comfortable with us! She doesn't move around on her own yet (we know that she can, she just still wants to stay close), but she'll get out of my lap now and giggle, be silly, and be naughty (with a sly little grin)! :)

It's hard to explain the miracle of love that happens with adoption. It has been so amazingly quick that we have fallen completely in love with this baby girl. Biology means absolutely nothing as far as our hearts are concerned. She's ours, and we love her so so deeply. It may sound crazy if you haven't experienced it yourself, but this love is love is no different than what we feel for the boys. Just look at this face! :) Oh my goodness, we're so blessed!